Post by Administrator on Apr 16, 2013 19:44:53 GMT -4
Alternative Energy Policy
Position on the Future of NB Power
April 2010
The Green Party of New Brunswick rejected the Liberal Government’s plan to sell our publicly owned electrical utility NB Power, believing it to be shortsighted, based on faulty assumptions, and not in the best interests of the people of New Brunswick.
New Brunswick's industrial power rates are already competitive with most jurisdictions in North America. Use of electricity rates as a permanent and untargeted subsidy to our entire manufacturing sector is a serious error.
Residential power rates are also in-line with most other jurisdictions and are the lowest in the Maritimes, but like elswhere they are rising. Serious investments in reducing energy demand will keep actual energy costs from going through the roof.
The New Brunswick Green Party has a vision for our energy future.
Energy policy has been a hallmark of global green politics. A green energy system is defined by energy efficiency, renewable energy sources, livable community design, and economic policy. Such a system avoids climate change, acid rain, local air pollution, widespread blackouts, oil price spikes, and economic disparity among regions. It builds energy security, resilient communities, and sustainable local economies.
Progressive jurisdictions are already moving in this direction. New Brunswick must too. In order to accomplish this, we need to own NB Power. Because it is organized to support an unsustainable energy system designed in the 1970s, NB Power will have to be re-mandated and re-structured.
The Green Party would take the following steps:
· Provide significant energy supply through a long-term power purchase agreement with Hydro-Quebec. This would permit a reduction in the use of our thermal generating stations and improve the financial situation at NB Power and help stabilize power rates despite the difficult financial situation that Point Lepreau presents.
· Deliver a provincial energy policy based on maximizing energy efficiency and adoption of renewable sources of energy in all sectors and which: a) commits to phasing out nuclear, oil and coal generating stations over time; b) builds local economies and contributes to community self-reliance and resilience through public or local ownership; and c) reforms NB Power and the Department of Energy to deliver these public policy goals.
· Re-organize NB Power as a public energy service utility mandated to supply energy services through: a) direct and aggressive investments in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and small-scale distributed generation; b) maintenance and/or expansion of existing hydroelectric generation; c) using measures such as financing and feed-in tariffs to pursue local economic development through partnerships with community, not-for-profit, co-operative, or First Nations-owned renewable energy facilities.
· Use locally-produced natural gas as a transition fuel to a green energy system. We would develop a system of decentralized, efficient cogeneration facilities to provide base load power and heating needs. After these measures, should a gap in base load capacity exist, a natural gas-powered generating station could be built to fill that gap.
· Reform the Energy and Utilities Board to strengthen its independent powers to design and regulate electricity rates to achieve the energy, environmental, economic and social goals of energy policy.
· Targeted industrial subsidies, if justifiable, should be administered through Business New Brunswick on a case-by-case basis. Assistance to the pulp and paper industry should be contingent on industry restructuring given the need to adapt to global changes in that sector and to put the forest industry on an ecologically sustainable footing.
This energy policy framework would transform our current ecologically and economically unsustainable energy system into one which delivers both ecological and economic development goals to all parts of the province. It also places New Brunswick in the league of progressive jurisdictions worldwide that are responding to the climate change crisis by redesigning their energy systems for the 21st century.
Position on the Future of NB Power
April 2010
The Green Party of New Brunswick rejected the Liberal Government’s plan to sell our publicly owned electrical utility NB Power, believing it to be shortsighted, based on faulty assumptions, and not in the best interests of the people of New Brunswick.
New Brunswick's industrial power rates are already competitive with most jurisdictions in North America. Use of electricity rates as a permanent and untargeted subsidy to our entire manufacturing sector is a serious error.
Residential power rates are also in-line with most other jurisdictions and are the lowest in the Maritimes, but like elswhere they are rising. Serious investments in reducing energy demand will keep actual energy costs from going through the roof.
The New Brunswick Green Party has a vision for our energy future.
Energy policy has been a hallmark of global green politics. A green energy system is defined by energy efficiency, renewable energy sources, livable community design, and economic policy. Such a system avoids climate change, acid rain, local air pollution, widespread blackouts, oil price spikes, and economic disparity among regions. It builds energy security, resilient communities, and sustainable local economies.
Progressive jurisdictions are already moving in this direction. New Brunswick must too. In order to accomplish this, we need to own NB Power. Because it is organized to support an unsustainable energy system designed in the 1970s, NB Power will have to be re-mandated and re-structured.
The Green Party would take the following steps:
· Provide significant energy supply through a long-term power purchase agreement with Hydro-Quebec. This would permit a reduction in the use of our thermal generating stations and improve the financial situation at NB Power and help stabilize power rates despite the difficult financial situation that Point Lepreau presents.
· Deliver a provincial energy policy based on maximizing energy efficiency and adoption of renewable sources of energy in all sectors and which: a) commits to phasing out nuclear, oil and coal generating stations over time; b) builds local economies and contributes to community self-reliance and resilience through public or local ownership; and c) reforms NB Power and the Department of Energy to deliver these public policy goals.
· Re-organize NB Power as a public energy service utility mandated to supply energy services through: a) direct and aggressive investments in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and small-scale distributed generation; b) maintenance and/or expansion of existing hydroelectric generation; c) using measures such as financing and feed-in tariffs to pursue local economic development through partnerships with community, not-for-profit, co-operative, or First Nations-owned renewable energy facilities.
· Use locally-produced natural gas as a transition fuel to a green energy system. We would develop a system of decentralized, efficient cogeneration facilities to provide base load power and heating needs. After these measures, should a gap in base load capacity exist, a natural gas-powered generating station could be built to fill that gap.
· Reform the Energy and Utilities Board to strengthen its independent powers to design and regulate electricity rates to achieve the energy, environmental, economic and social goals of energy policy.
· Targeted industrial subsidies, if justifiable, should be administered through Business New Brunswick on a case-by-case basis. Assistance to the pulp and paper industry should be contingent on industry restructuring given the need to adapt to global changes in that sector and to put the forest industry on an ecologically sustainable footing.
This energy policy framework would transform our current ecologically and economically unsustainable energy system into one which delivers both ecological and economic development goals to all parts of the province. It also places New Brunswick in the league of progressive jurisdictions worldwide that are responding to the climate change crisis by redesigning their energy systems for the 21st century.